3 now charged with capital murder in deadly June shootout on Birmingham’s busy First Avenue North

Three people are now charged with capital murder in a June shootout that left one person dead, and two others wounded in a shootout on Birmingham’s busy First Avenue North in June.

Birmingham police on Saturday announced the arrests of Rice Pickett, 21, of Dolomite, and Keion McClure, 22, of Center Point, in the slaying of 19-year-old Martavius Williams.

Charges against Cameron Jayveon Scales, 18, of Bessemer, were previously made public. Scales, whose sister was killed in the Hush lounge mass shooting, was previously charged in a separate murder that happened in May.

Pickett was taken into custody Thursday at a Dolomite home by the police department’s Crime Reduction Team and the Tactical Unit, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald.

The CRT arrested McClure Friday on Parkway East.

Scales was already jailed. His mother told AL.com he is innocent.

All three remain held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail.

The shooting that killed Williams happened about 7:40 p.m. Saturday, June 15, in the 8200 block of First Avenue North, just off Interstate 59.

East Precinct officers started receiving multiple Shot Spotter alerts about that time, Fitzgerald said.

Shot Spotter alone registered more than 50 rounds fired.

Police arrived on the scene to find four vehicles wrecked along First Avenue North. Two of those vehicles were empty, and the third was found near the Shell gas station.

The fourth vehicle had crashed through the fence of the park, coming to a rest about 20 feet inside the park.

Inside were three gunshot victims – two men and a woman.

A shootout on Birmingham’s busy First Avenue North in front of East Lake Park left one person dead and two others seriously injured.(Carol Robinson)

Williams was pronounced dead on the scene. The other two victims were rushed to UAB Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

“We believe a shootout happened on the roadway involving at least three vehicles,’’ Fitzgerald said at the time. “We even suspect the victims may have been involved in the shootout based on the evidence we observed.”

The vehicle found at the nearby gas station was believed to have wrecked trying to escape the chaos, and investigators don’t believe those in that vehicle had anything to do with the shooting.

The occupants of that vehicle were not injured.

Fitzgerald said police believe multiple guns were fired.

“Anyone that knows the 8200 block of First Avenue North can tell you how big of a thoroughfare this is,’’ he said. “We’re extremely fortunate that no innocent bystanders were struck by gunfire.”

“We think these three cars were involved in something they shouldn’t have been,’’ Fitzgerald said. “There’s no other way to put that.”